


way for the willing

by rahmiel



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Explicit Sexual Content, Finding home in each other, Fix-It, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Light Angst, M/M, Past Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto, Romance, Tenderness, naruto & hinata get divorced
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:36:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25249279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rahmiel/pseuds/rahmiel
Summary: There's two ways to lose a home: one, it gets forcefully taken. Two, you realize you never wanted it in the first place.Then there's a way to find a new one. But only if you truly yearn for it and work for it.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 20
Kudos: 198





	way for the willing

Signing the divorce papers feels like an easy thing to do, at least physically — too easy, in fact, when weighed against the magnitude of change such a simple action will bring to their lives. Naruto’s signature is as bold as ever, a flourish at the end, and next to Hinata’s perfectly contained script it looks mocking. Scandalous, even. He feels shame rise within him like a tidal wave. 

They don’t talk as they leave Shikamaru’s office.

The kids are put to bed, rowdy as usual, but it takes less time as both Naruto and Hinata do their respective roles in the routine with clinical efficiency. Then, they bring the sake out.

Naruto sips. It’s good — better than good, if he’s being honest. It’s the expensive sake they got as a wedding gift from Hinata’s clan and mutually agreed it was only to be drunk on special occasions. They hadn’t touched it in the ten years they’d been married. Not even their anniversary had felt special enough, tinged with discomfort and regret.

It is somehow fitting that it’s their divorce that warrants it.

Naruto goes to speak, but Hinata cuts him off.

“Save it, Naruto,” she sighs. “We’ve said enough.” 

They had; fight after fight piling on top of each other, past misery finally making itself known in the relative safety of domesticity. 

“I wanted to apologize,” he says, palm over his eyes. He cannot bear to look at her. His wife, his loving, caring,  _ placid _ — ex-wife. She had finally stopped being placid, and showed him the divorce papers after dinner one day.

“You know I cannot forgive it,” and by it, he knows what she means, although neither have ever said it, nor they ever will. 

“I know,” he goes to speak. Hinata cuts him off again.

_ “But,” _ she says, and her voice compels Naruto to look at her, “but I will. I will. And it’s the last thing I will ever do for you.”

***

It's not the first time he's gone drinking hidden by a henge — it's not the fifth, nor the tenth, either. Maybe he should have noticed his marriage falling apart sooner than a whole decade in, in retrospect. 

There’s not a lot of people who would be able to recognize him like this. There isn’t much reason for it, as he never has to hide from the villagers anymore, because they respect him — but the need to stay hidden in his misery has never gone away — so he hides, lest they see a human, rather than a beacon of hope. 

_ At what point did you become a coward,  _ a voice in Naruto’s head says, and it sounds like a painful memory, an echo of a voice so rarely heard in the past years, clear nonetheless. 

Sasuke.

Naruto’s fingers twist around the glass, and he almost shatters it. He catches himself right before that happens, and it takes more strength to unclench his hand than it would have taken to actually break the thing. Instead, he uses whatever broken afterimage of his will of fire is left to lift it up to his lips and down it in one go. 

Glass after glass, and the memories come flooding in. 

First it’s just Sasuke. Then they shape themselves to remind him of his marriage to Hinata, the utter, crystalline joy he’d felt at having the pieces fall together perfectly. His life, a careful construction, finally free of chaos and disorder — just like the Hyūga elders had orchestrated it to be, and even though he’d felt trapped by it, that joy had kept him content. 

Boruto’s birth had renewed its spark, just when it was waning, filling his life with a bright light once more — so bright it had made him forget the shadows. But by the time Himawari was born, things were different. 

Hinata was different. Because  _ Naruto  _ was different, she'd said. Because  _ Naruto _ was always gone for too long, diplomatic missions left and right. She’d suddenly found she didn't want that life, didn't want to be trapped. She'd been trapped, she'd said, in this marriage, led to believe it was all she would ever amount to, and she loved Naruto, she'd said, but she'd finally realized she needs to love herself too. Because Naruto  _ didn’t.  _ Not in that way, at the very least.

They’d both been trapped.

And so they got a divorce. 

And so, Naruto's here, in a dingy shinobi bar where the atmosphere is dark and the conversation topics are even darker, drinking his sorrows away. 

If only they could see him now. Well — they can't. That's what the henge is for. 

***

“Naruto, I cannot, in good faith, send you on this mission. You’re next in line for the Hokage seat. God knows I don’t want this responsibility for much longer.” Kakashi is being uncharacteristically serious, one eye appraising Naruto. “What’s gotten into you?”

Naruto laughs a mirthless laugh. “I’m sure you know by now, sensei,” he says as he straddles the seat opposite Kakashi. “I never envisioned  _ divorce _ in my bright future.” It’s a stain. Whether it’s a stain on his image or his confidence, he doesn’t know. At this point, maybe they’re intertwined. 

“So you want to go on a near-suicide mission?” Kakashi rolls his eye. “Please. Let me tell you, those only cause more problems.”

“You know from experience, right?” Naruto grins. It’s on the edge of slipping into feral.

“Yes. And I’ve never had kids to come back to.”

It’s a blow, one he didn’t expect, and he pulls back involuntarily. Of course, Kakashi notices. His eye crinkles into what looks like a smile, but Naruto knows is actually more of a grimace. 

“I could send you away for some time. There’s a high profile escort mission, and it’s only A rank, but—”

“Kakashi, are you seriously telling me you would send me on a fucking — on an A rank, when there’s an urgent mission you have almost no one else qualified to take care of — and I know you don’t, I have clearance, and I know people, you know I know everyone—”

The air shifts. It’s miniscule, a minute shift in the chakra balance. But Naruto notices. He’d know that chakra anywhere. 

“Who says he doesn’t?” Sasuke asks, stepping into the light. 

“Sasuke—” Naruto barks out, his heart stuttering, sympathetic nervous system firing.

The response is cool and measured. “Naruto.” 

“You’re back?” The question is incredulous, teetering on the brink of accusatory and disbelieving. Naruto turns to look at Kakashi, who’s hiding behind an Icha Icha, the coward. He looks back at Sasuke. “Of course,” he croaks out.

Sasuke hums and comes closer, hand on the hilt of his sword. 

“You couldn’t have told me?” Naruto’s voice is rising in pitch, his eyes jumping between his former teacher and his former teammate. “You didn’t even tell me—” he says, and he doesn’t know who he’s addressing with it. 

“In light of recent events…” Kakashi begins.

“My divorce, you mean! _”_ Naruto yells, grimacing. "Say it outright!" 

“You got a divorce, asshole? Of course,” Sasuke echoes.

Naruto, spluttering, turns to him. “What do you mean of course?” he presses, and it’s only then that he notices he’s stood up from the chair and is facing Sasuke fully, fists clenched and ready. For what, he doesn’t know. He doesn't want to fight — he wants the opposite. But fight is all they’ve ever done.

Not deigning to respond, Sasuke moves to sit in the chair Naruto just vacated, nodding at Kakashi. “I’m here for my briefing.”

It’s infuriating. It makes the blood in Naruto’s veins sing, in a way only Sasuke can manage. 

And it's all he's ever wanted.

“Sasuke, you fucker,” Naruto grins, turning his back to the pair. “Come talk to me later, will you?”

Then he’s gone.

***

The spot he chooses is one they used to favor in the past, back in another life. Before everything. 

It’s a training ground on the edge of the forest, close to the abandoned clan compounds. The air there is humid but refreshing, and always so quiet, oppressive silence permeating it despite the nearby river. He can hear his own heartbeat as he rests in the shade, his back to a tree trunk.

Naruto waits for Sasuke, recalling the times they’ve sparred here, all full of bitterness. It's been too many years of this acrid pain burning in Naruto's throat, intermingling with his… 

Ah. There Sasuke is, on top of the Hokage Mountain, searching. His gaze roves over Konoha, looking for Naruto, and when their eyes meet there's a momentary flash of red before Sasuke vanishes. 

Three beats of Naruto's heart, and Sasuke appears in the middle of the training ground. 

Naruto grins, savage and unhinged, letting the thrum of excitement carry through his body. In no time he springs up and lunges, kunai slicing the air, and Sasuke dodges effortlessly. He doesn't even draw his sword, focusing only on keeping up with Naruto's attacks, and they end up falling into a steady rhythm, a familiar dance which puts Naruto at ease. 

That's his mistake. 

He doesn't notice Sasuke's trajectory, the way he’s slowly edging closer to the far side of the training ground and deeper into the forest, until it's too late. Suddenly, the tables have been turned, since between the two of them it's Sasuke who's always been more capable of using the trees to his advantage. There's little to do now except dodge, evade, parry, until Naruto has almost started panting from the effort of having to keep up with Sasuke slithering through the branches. A little more of this, and Naruto will be reduced to a puddle of sweat and grime, an embarrassing reminder of how little time he's spent on training lately — and how much on moping around. 

He summons two clones quickly. The three of them, his two clones and the real Naruto, form a triangle around where he assumes Sasuke is, preparing for the next attack. But Naruto doesn't plan much ahead nor consider any possibility that things are not as they seem — that's always been his failing point when it comes to Sasuke. The man can reduce any cognitive ability of Naruto’s beyond recognizing basal, animalistic urges to nothing. 

As Naruto’s clones lunge, and he stands behind to catch Sasuke wherever he chooses to make an escape, Naruto misses the flicker of movement to his right. The clones make contact with Sasuke — there's a pop, two — and a third, the last one coming from the clone Sasuke had deposited, putting the real Sasuke somewhere in Naruto’s blindspot. The realization hits Naruto a second too late. 

He's already been pinned to the tree behind him. 

“You’re so out of shape it’s hilarious,” Sasuke says, expressionless. 

Naruto can feel a bead of sweat rolling down his back inside his shirt. He’s slightly ashamed to admit to himself that for a second, he imagines it’s Sasuke’s arm trailing down his spine, searching, reaching — he shudders. That’s impossible. He’s currently being pinned by that arm, and Sasuke has no other. 

Sasuke’s studying Naruto’s face intently, and for a second Naruto’s afraid Sasuke is reading his mind, despite the fact that his Sharingan is not activated, and isn’t  _ that _ embarrassing — the knowledge that Sasuke has him pinned, has Naruto, the next in line for the Hokage seat, pinned to a tree with his left eye covered, and the other completely normal. 

Meeting Sasuke’s gaze, Naruto goes pliant under him. A strange, submissive urge overtakes his body, melting at their points of contact, Sasuke’s arm pressing down on Naruto’s chest, a knee digging into Naruto’s inner thigh — vulnerable. Were Sasuke to lean in, Naruto would bare his throat. 

Naruto’s eyes trail down Sasuke’s form, noting the dark blue of his cape, almost black in the shade, the sudden splash of milky white where Sasuke’s short top has ridden up to expose his stomach. He gulps, mouth suddenly dry, and he looks up to meet Sasuke’s eyes again, but Sasuke is looking elsewhere. His eyes have dropped, eyelashes casting shadows on his cheekbones from the little light filtering through the crowns of the trees far above, and he’s looking somewhere between them, and he’s beautiful. Feeling foolish, as if he hasn’t noticed something that Sasuke has, Naruto looks back down to the point of Sasuke’s fixation, and realizes they’re looking at the joining of their legs, where Sasuke is still pressing relentlessly.

“Sasuke…” Naruto manages, and it sounds winded, not from the exercise, but from the proximity. 

“So,” Sasuke says, still looking down, “a divorce?”

Naruto groans, jerking one arm to palm his face, unsure whether he’s doing so out of embarrassment or exasperation. “Don’t wanna talk about it,” he says, muffled.

“Hn,” Sasuke voices, eloquent as ever, and presses the tiniest bit harder. “But I do.” 

“Why?” Groaning again, Naruto shifts, and Sasuke’s knee slips from his thigh to rest between his legs. But it’s still a point of contact, and slowly, deliberately, it pushes upwards until it rests flush against Naruto’s crotch. “Sas’ke, what are you doing?” Naruto stammers, coloring.

Sasuke doesn’t answer. Instead, he removes his arm and drops his knee so that their chests fall together. He uses his now free palm to push his hair back so that both of his eyes are in clear view, and then to grasp Naruto’s jaw in a firm grip. Naruto’s breath hitches as he watches Sasuke’s right eye pool red, the Sharingan spinning lazily, the purple of the Rinnegan contrasting it. 

It does things — it does things to Naruto’s insides, heat spreading from where they’re touching, sparks of electricity fizzing between them, warmth rushing to his crotch. He’s helpless, utterly at Sasuke’s mercy, not knowing whether he’s trapped in a genjutsu, whether this is real at all or just a cruel joke. Not knowing — and not caring. He’s achingly hard and utterly at Sasuke’s mercy. The only thing he can do is stay still, prey in the jaws of a glorious predator.

“Because if it’s true,” Sasuke breaks the silence, “then this is allowed.” His face moves closer. “Naruto.” 

His name on Sasuke’s lips ignites Naruto in a blazing glory, and he hasn’t felt like this in so long — in at least twelve years, not since he was on the brink of death, and it was Sasuke’s fault back then too. He wants to move closer, wants to press their lips together, but Sasuke’s lithe, callused fingers grip his jaw tight and it’s in vain. To Naruto’s endless mortification, the realization makes him even harder.

“Oh god,” he says, his hips jerking involuntarily. “Yes, yes, it’s okay, it’s more than okay, please,” and now that he’s started, he can’t stop babbling. “Please, Sasuke, I’ve — I’ve wanted this…”

Sasuke’s thin lips curl into a nasty smirk. He moves closer, letting go of Naruto’s face and arm sliding to grip his ass instead. Sasuke squeezes and pulls their groins together, and his matching erection digs into Naruto’s hip. His eyes search Naruto’s face, maybe for signs of hesitation or disgust, but Naruto thinks it’s pretty obvious how he feels about the whole situation. He makes a pitiful whine, eyes pleading, silently begging for a kiss.

Sasuke obliges. 

It’s neither particularly violent nor tender — their lips meet, briefly, and Sasuke pulls away, assessing. Naruto feels like he could cry. 

Relenting, Sasuke presses back in, his tongue now seeking entrance in Naruto’s mouth, and Naruto’s never been more eager to allow it. He regains control of his arms, previously dangling at his sides, and grips Sasuke’s broad back to pull him in as close as he can. Their teeth clank together, so Sasuke changes the angle and squeezes Naruto again. One of Naruto’s hands slides down Sasuke’s back to return the favor. They seem to be swaying back and forth, pushing at each other in intervals, their kiss a battle for dominance Naruto knows he’s going to lose any second now. 

It happens when Sasuke decides to grind down on Naruto right as he’s twining their tongues together again, and Naruto pulls back, groaning, and lets his head fall back against the tree with a thump. He’s lost. And now, he’s actually baring his throat to Sasuke, who latches onto it greedily, nipping and kissing down the side, licking at the Adam’s apple, making Naruto hold onto him for dear life. 

Their hips have started moving together in unison — a push from Naruto, then from Sasuke, a heave of breath and a twitch every time Sasuke does something Naruto particularly likes — biting at Naruto’s lip, or his breath hot on Naruto’s ear. And the most wonderful of all: when Sasuke’s hand slides down, down, and starts unfastening Naruto’s slacks, and somehow the sight of Sasuke nimbly undressing Naruto with one hand only is almost enough to make him come in his pants. 

He scrambles to mirror the motion, but he’s so shaky and out of his element that even with both hands at his disposal he fumbles with Sasuke’s clothes until Sasuke takes pity on him and does the job himself. Their dicks spring free, and Naruto looks down, unashamed but still flushed red to the tips of his ears. 

Despite Sasuke’s apparent coolness, it’s obvious that he’s not unaffected by the matter entirely, as Naruto can clearly see the beads of precum glistening on the tip of his reddened head. His mouth waters. He wants to suck Sasuke off so badly, he can already taste it. 

“Can I?” Naruto asks, voice wavering. Sasuke cocks his head to the side in confusion. “I want to blow you,” Naruto clarifies, before embarrassment can stop him from saying it. 

Sasuke’s eyebrows shoot up in apparent surprise before he lets go of Naruto and steps back to give the other space to crouch. 

Naruto slides down to his knees, hands gliding down Sasuke’s sides. He rests one of them on Sasuke’s ass, the other moving to tentatively grasp Sasuke’s shaft and give an experimental tug. The only indication of pleasure he gets from Sasuke is the barely perceptible widening of his eyes, his wet lips sliding the barest hint open. 

He darts his tongue out to taste the tip, and then, emboldened by it, takes more of Sasuke in his mouth. For a moment, Sasuke seems unsure of what to do with his hand, but it slides into Naruto’s hair soon enough, tugging here and there, urging Naruto on. With the hand on Sasuke’s ass Naruto presses himself deeper, wanting to take as much of Sasuke as he can at once. He wants Sasuke — all of him, in a way he’s wanted nothing and no one else — and now, after so long, he can have him. His eyes water and his jaw hurts, but Sasuke looks down upon him, Sharingan still activated, and Naruto couldn’t care less about anything else in the world. 

Sasuke uses the grip he has on Naruto’s hair to pull him back, sliding out. It seems as if he is waiting for something, and Naruto thinks he has a pretty good idea of what that is. He nods eagerly, mouth opening wide, tongue sticking out. He’s so turned on, even the knowledge that Sasuke will have this image imprinted on his retinas for all eternity fails to be embarrassing. He's coming to terms with the fact that Sasuke’s about to fuck his mouth and all Naruto can do is brace himself in anticipation. 

At first, the push is slow, measured, and Naruto senses the trembling of Sasuke’s thigh under his hand, how much willpower and control it must take to be so gentle. His heart soars at the caring ministration. Then, Sasuke regains his previous confidence. His hand grips Naruto’s hair tighter, holding him in place, and starts fucking Naruto’s mouth in earnest. The thrusts aren’t deep but they’re fast enough to leave Naruto breathless, spit dribbling down his chin and tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. 

It’s so good, so perfect, and Naruto’s hand slides to palm his own dick, the pressure becoming unbearable. 

“Breathe, Naruto,” Sasuke says, tone wavering almost imperceptibly, and Naruto forces air through his nostrils, not breaking eye contact as Sasuke continues fucking into his mouth. Naruto’s world has been reduced to the feel of Sasuke in his mouth, sometimes hitting the back of his throat; the glint in Sasuke’s eyes, the way he bites his lip, the quiet hitches of his breath; his force, and the way he comes undone. For Naruto.

“You’re—” Sasuke gives a quiet groan, “—beautiful,” he says, and spills down Naruto’s throat, body tensing, taut like a bow. It assaults Naruto all at once: Sasuke’s words, the taste and feeling, the pressure of his own hand, frantic. He comes almost right after, soiling his hand, and when Sasuke pulls back, he suddenly finds he has no strength to stand up.

Naruto falls back on his ass, resting against the tree, still looking at Sasuke under rapidly drooping eyelids. Sasuke tucks himself back in and crouches in front of Naruto, reaching out to take Naruto’s sticky hand. When he realizes what Sasuke’s about to do, it’s too late to stop him, and so Naruto watches as Sasuke lifts Naruto’s hand to his mouth, licking the cum off the fingers and sucking on them far longer than is actually necessary.

“You’re trying to get me hard again, bastard?” Naruto asks, his voice rough, and he grins. He hasn’t felt this sated, this content, in years. 

“Idiot,” Sasuke says, standing up and tugging Naruto up with him. “Put your dick back in your pants. I need to get ready for my mission.” 

Awareness rushes back in, and Naruto remembers they’re in the forest near their favorite training ground, and they’re not nineteen but twenty-nine, and Sasuke is leaving — again, and who knows when he’ll be back. And Naruto just had some of his teenage — who is he kidding — his lifelong fantasies come true.

He gulps, still tasting Sasuke. “When will you be back?” he asks, but what he tries to convey is actually,  _ What does this mean for us? _

“I don’t know,” comes Sasuke’s quiet answer.

***

Weeks pass, then a month, then two.

After the sharp turn his life took, Naruto has been trying to adjust to this new way of living — he misses Sasuke, but even their incredible encounter hasn’t been enough to distract him fully from the fact that his life is now — well, back to single living. Somehow he finds that he has less work than before, so he can finally spend more time with the kids and his friends. 

He says as much to Kiba, who grins and winks at him. “Or you’re not running away anymore, bro.”

It’s so uncharacteristically perceptive of Kiba that Naruto blinks twice in rapid succession, taken aback. “Have you been gossiping with Shikamaru, by any chance?” he asks, taking a sip of his drink.

“Man, no. That guy doesn’t gossip, at least not with me. But I  _ have _ been gossiping with Ino, who’s been gossiping with Sakura, whose daughter has been having a lot of playdates with your son,” Kiba laughs.

“Um,” Naruto scratches the back of his head, “shouldn’t you be getting that information directly from Hinata, if anything? She was your teammate, after all.”

“I haven’t spoken to her in a while. She became distant right before you guys divorced,” Kiba says. “And then I went on a mission, you know.”

A mission. Sasuke. 

“Fuck,” Naruto says, and Kiba starts laughing. “What are you laughing about!”

“Just, you know,” Kiba says, wiping a pretend tear from his face, “it’s like you have a trigger or something. Any time something even remotely connected to Sasuke—”

“Don’t—!” Naruto cuts Kiba off by covering his mouth. “Don’t talk about it. I don’t want to hear it.” He doesn’t need to be reminded and then forced into another pitiful, lonely jerk-off session recalling that impulsive forest blowjob again. 

Kiba says something muffled, and then bites Naruto’s hand.

“What are you, twelve?” Naruto yells. 

“Are  _ you _ twelve? I can’t even say his name in a public place?” 

Naruto flushes and buries his nose in his glass. “I‘m sorry.”

Kiba pats Naruto on the back, hand warm and heavy and reassuring. Naruto’s missed the comfort that comes with having someone constantly around, sharing your living space. Even if their marriage had been far from perfect, there’d never been any resentment between him and Hinata. Hinata was far too good a person for that, and Naruto far too oblivious. They’d still slept in the same bed, still cuddled, even had sex sometimes — in a tender, odd way that left Naruto feeling hollow afterwards — but it was  _ something.  _

There’s a void now, in the two months he’s been living alone. He moved out of the apartment they’d gotten, left it to Hinata and their kids, and moved back in the bachelor space he’d had in the two years before they’d gotten married. It had stayed empty, or — not empty, but unmoved. Untouched for ten years, and now Naruto’s back living in it, constantly being reminded of a time that was maybe not better, but for all intents simpler, somehow. When he’d felt like maybe Sasuke would stay for good. 

He hadn’t, of course. So why had he decided, after ten whole years, to cause yet another emotional upheaval — right after Naruto’s divorce, too?  _ Doesn’t that guy have any sense whatsoever?  _ Naruto screams mentally.

Kiba rubs Naruto’s back and coos. “There, there, it’s alright, you big baby.”

“What d’ya mean I’ve stopped running away, though?” Naruto asks, looking at Kiba out of the corner of his eye.

“Hey, I’m just the messenger, I have no clue. You know how they gossip at the Mission Desk — it’s for ninja points, you don’t have to understand what it means. You just pass it on to someone who might. Chaos!” Kiba laughs heartily. “I love it. We have to entertain ourselves somehow.” 

Naruto rolls his eyes, wondering whether Iruka is also a part of that gossip mill. Wouldn’t that be a surprise — actually, no, it definitely wouldn’t. It suddenly makes a lot more sense that Iruka knows weird details about Naruto’s life and lectures him about them on their shared dinners. 

“Try having kids, that will eat your time up,” Naruto finally grins back. "Speaking of kids, I really don’t know why Sakura had Sarada. I mean — I  _ know,  _ she wanted a kid, and I understand that because I also wanted kids and now I have them and I love them to bits but — I didn’t expect it, I guess? I thought she’d focus on proving that she's a strong ninja. And she even somehow got Sasuke involved, which makes sense because he probably… hey, why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re far gone, man. Everything circles back to that bastard for you.”

“I _know!_ I’m just as annoyed as everyone else, believe me.” Naruto groans. “So anyway, who would understand what this particular piece of gossip means?”

“I guess Sakura or Hinata. Those two seem close enough to you to understand. And smart enough. Smarter than you for sure!”

Gasping, Naruto chucks a peanut at Kiba. It’s war.

***

“Dad, look! Shino-sensei taught me to aim properly!” Boruto says and launches into the air, throwing the shuriken from his hand and barely missing Sakura, who’s just arrived with Sarada in tow. 

“Are you aiming at Sakura?” Naruto laughs. Boruto pouts and sticks his tongue out at Naruto. Then he stomps to greet Sarada, pulling her to the nearest tree. They immediately begin their race towards the top.

“Is it safe to let them do that?” Sakura asks, sitting next to Naruto on the grass and dropping the packed lunch she brought between them. “I mean, they’ve just started the Academy. We weren’t doing this back then.”

“Don’t worry, I have a clone in the tree next to them. Although, I think they’re better than we were back then anyway,” Naruto laughs.

“Yes, I suppose the prodigy genes add up,” Sakura beams. There’s no traces left of the bitterness she used to wear so often in the past. 

“Oh, calling yourself a prodigy, huh?” Naruto pokes her. “Come here for a hug!” 

She nestles between his arms and sighs. “It’s good to see more of you, Naruto.”

“I’m not running away anymore, huh?”

“Yeah, definitely — wait, there’s no way you came up with that on your own.” She pulls back, gaze calculating. “Who put that in that empty head of yours?”

“Does everyone hate me?” Naruto pouts. It probably looks exactly like the pout Boruto gave just moments earlier, but he couldn’t care less.

“I don’t hate you. But you have to admit you’re not good on the self-assessment front.”

“That’s true,” he sighs, pulling her back and burying his head in her hair. “It’s good to see more of you too, Sakura. And my kids. And since I’m not good at introspection, can you spell it out for me? I was running away?”

“You were. Oh, how you were,” she disentangles herself. “I think Kakashi-sensei was enabling you at the end there, with how often you jumped into missions.”

“I mean — I had to do that! There was no one else!”

“That’s true,” she nods, and it sounds like she's saying it to placate him more than anything. "But you have to admit that you took way more back-to-backs than expected from a father of two.” 

“Really, that was only because there was no one else,” Naruto insists.

“Was it? And was there really no one else?” Sakura twists her lips in dissatisfaction. “Hinata could have easily gone on half of those. Why didn’t she?”

“Because — well, she was looking after the kids…”

“Did you ever give her a chance?” Sakura asks. Sharp as always, she delivers her blows with precision and skill, with sheer, unadulterated force.

Naruto looks into the distance. Guilt is eating at him, like it’s filled him up and replaced his stomach acid, and now it’s biting away at his whole being. “I… No. I didn’t,” he admits, and it’s painful to do it, like his throat is closing up.

“You see, Naruto. That’s all I can tell you. I have a suspicion as to why you did this, but it’s not my place to say. That’s up to you to figure out.”

“I think I have, a long time ago,” Naruto sighs. “I just haven’t had the strength to admit it to myself yet.” He rakes a hand through his hair. "There's only one answer to that question, and it's Sasuke," he whispers. 

“It’s always been him, hasn’t it?” Sakura giggles. “What the hell is wrong with us?”

“Hey, Team Seven,” Naruto laughs, reaching out for a fist bump. “Everything is wrong with us. That’s why we’re unstoppable.”

She humors him and then reaches out for the lunch. While she’s unpacking the satchel, Naruto thinks for a moment and then steels himself. 

“You know, two months ago, Sasuke and I… well, something happened.”

“I know,” she says nonchalantly.

“Wait — what? How?” he gasps.

“He told me. When he came to check on Sarada,” she adds, biting at the edge of a perfectly cut triangular sandwich. “Have some!” she gestures at the food laid out between them.

Naruto falls on his back, gazing up at the sky. “He told you… What did he tell you?”

“Oh, this and that. Forest, sparring, a tree.”

Naruto flushes to the tips of his ears. He shouldn’t be embarrassed, it’s Sakura. She probably knows every single intimate thing about his life since he was six years old, that’s just how she is, and she probably doesn’t care at all, clinical detachment and all that. But still. It’s embarrassing. 

“Details?” he croaks out. 

“He spared me that, thankfully. I would have had to kill him if he didn’t,” she laughs. 

“Why do you think he waited until now?” Naruto wonders.

She lays down next to him. “Do you have any ideas?”

The clouds above are few and far between. Sarada and Boruto are chattering from the top of the tree, out of Naruto’s view. There’s little to no breeze, and the world is still.

“The divorce,” Naruto says, after a pause. “That’s obvious. But  _ why?  _ He could have approached me much earlier.”

“I think it was too risky for him. In that same situation, I wouldn’t have approached you either.”

“Risky how? I wouldn’t have rejected him. Apparently, my infatuation has been obvious to everyone but me. Why should he be the exception?”

Sakura laughs, and it’s just the slightest bit infuriating how pleased she sounds. But it’s Sakura, and he loves her. They’re best friends. So he’ll forgive it.

“Oh, Naruto. For all Sasuke’s perceptiveness, you’re actually his only blindspot.”

It feels like a punch to Naruto’s gut. “Really?” he stammers out.

“Of course. You get him to do things he’d never do otherwise. I’ve always been able to predict how he’d react to something. But never when you’re involved. You’re a wild card.”

“Don’t just say things like that, Sakura!”

“Why not? It’s the truth… I wanted to be that for him, you know. For the longest time. I was probably jealous of you, come to think of it.” 

“I guess…” Naruto sighs. “Oh, what do I do, Sakura!”

“Don’t be pathetic. You’re a grown man, you have children, figure it out.”

“I can’t! What did you say — I’m his blindspot? He’s my blindspot too! I don’t know what to do!” he whines. 

It’s right then that their children decide lunch time has arrived, effectively rendering any response and advice Sakura might have offered useless. Naruto smiles as Boruto sits on his chest and then ruffles his son’s hair. 

It was just one signature. Yet, it brought forth a dizzying, exhilarating change in his life. It will be a while until he gets used to it, but for now, Naruto thinks he doesn't want to. 

***

“So.”

“So.”

“You’re back again, Sasuke.”

“How perceptive. Idiot.”

“Shut up! It’s been five months since we last saw each other!” Naruto attempts to shove Sasuke’s shoulder. Sasuke dodges. “So, you’re back in one piece? Why the hell did it take so long?”

“You said it yourself. It was a dangerous and complicated mission,” Sasuke deadpans. 

Naruto chuckles mirthlessly, and then moves to sit next to Sasuke on the bench. Sasuke doesn’t flinch when their shoulders touch. “You alright, though?”

“What kind of question is that? I’m obviously alright, you dunce.”

“Would you stop insulting me?” Naruto sighs. “I—” he chokes up, but swallows it down. He’ll do this. He’s never backed down from a challenge. He can do this! “I missed you. Sasuke.”

Sasuke draws in a sharp breath. He turns to look at Naruto. Their eyes meet, and it feels like Naruto’s chest blossoms. He doesn’t know if it’s wonderful or if it’ll suffocate him to death. 

“I miss you all the time, Sasu—” Naruto’s breath hitches, and he’s almost crying now. He grunts, rubbing his eyes. “Damn it! I’m almost thirty, what the hell. I’m about to cry like some baby.”

“Moron,” Sasuke says, and when Naruto looks back up the gaze that meets him is filled with something — with something he’s never seen before, an expression so unfamiliar on Sasuke’s face that it creates no wrinkles, doesn’t settle on his skin. Almost unrecognizable, Sasuke looks on at Naruto with love. 

Naruto does cry, then. It’s not a wail, not anything that might attract attention. But tears spill from his eyes unbidden, uncontrolled, his face morphing into a mixture of wonder and disbelief. His mouth falls open as he looks on at Sasuke in the fading light. 

It hurts. So much time wasted, so much pain and grief in their lives — ever since they were children, when they could not control it, and as they became adults — when they could. He's always been Sasuke’s, always gripped in this whirlpool of emotion that had him from the very beginning and never let him go. It was only their stubbornness and obliviousness that got in their way. And everything else in-between that. 

There have always been things easier than trying to make it work with Sasuke. It was always easier to ignore his feelings and always easier to fall back on the safe choices he paved the way for, the friends he made and the village that finally accepted him, even as he chased Sasuke — and Naruto would have chased him to the ends of the earth if Sasuke hadn't decided to come back. Still it was easier, to call Sasuke his best friend and leave it at that, never deny the love he felt but keep it sealed regardless, like another tailed beast inside of him, powerful and teeming just under the surface. 

Sasuke frowns, lips twisting into a displeased grimace. His hand reaches out and cups Naruto's face, thumb wiping the tears streaking down Naruto's cheeks gingerly. The finger moves to trace the whisker marks on Naruto's cheeks, and then finally run along his lower lip. 

Naruto feels his arousal building, pooling in the pit of his stomach, but he resists. Not now. They're finally talking. 

Sasuke sighs. "Why do you still wait for me, Naruto? After all this time."

"Have you ever known me to give up?" 

"You've given me too many chances."

"I'll always give you another chance. I don't care if it's my downfall, Sasuke."

The hand still on Naruto's jaw clenches. "You don't know what's good for you."

Naruto chuckles, batting Sasuke’s hand away, because he doesn't know if he'll manage to resist the temptation to do something. Any longer, and he might attempt to get that thumb in his mouth. "Evidently! If I did, I probably wouldn't have married Hinata."

Sasuke raises his brows. "Your kids…" 

"Of course I don't regret my kids. I don't really regret being married to Hinata, either." Naruto sighs. "But if I could have had this earlier…"

"We couldn't have."

"You think?" Naruto bites his lip. "Maybe. Maybe we needed to grow." 

"Stop waxing poetic."

"I do what I want, you—" 

"I don't want to run anymore," Sasuke admits quietly. He's looking away, almost bashful. He hasn't looked like this since they were twelve years old, Kakashi scolding them for a bad decision they made on the field. 

It punches the breath out of Naruto's lungs. "You… don't say things you don't mean, Sasuke."

"I only stayed away because I wanted to see what you'd do. Maybe you just wanted to try something new after the divorce." There's a sharp and bitter edge to Sasuke’s voice. "I don't want to be an experiment, or a replacement. I don't want to be second to anyone in your life, Naruto."

Naruto rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "The kids, though… I promised myself…"

"Idiot. I meant from the adults," Sasuke scoffs. "If you've deluded yourself into thinking you've grown up, I'm telling you now you haven't."

"You're being awfully talkative. I don't think I've heard you talk this much in the past five years!" Naruto grins, trying to make light of their conversation despite the uncertain trembling of his soul. 

Because this… whatever this is, it really is happening. Sasuke is real and solid in front of him; not a daydream, not a nightmare. He's here and he's saying he wants to stay. 

Steeling himself, Naruto scoots closer to Sasuke until their thighs touch. 

"Naruto, stop," Sasuke says, and Naruto thinks,  _ Here it is. Rejection, once again. _

But Sasuke only sighs and gestures with his chin towards the guard tower behind Naruto. "There are people."

"They won't care, Sasuke."

"They will. You just had a divorce."

"That was seven months ago!" 

"You were married for a decade."

"And I've thought about you for more than two," Naruto retorts, going for playful, but the words come out way heavier than he intended. 

“Are you really serious about this?” Sasuke asks, and it’s as close to unsure as Naruto’s ever seen him. “You do things on a whim, Naruto.”

“Will you trust me, Sasuke?” Naruto whispers, almost pleading, trying to convey all that he feels in his words and his gaze, all the longing and want and frustration, trying to encapsulate them like he never has before. “Please. Trust me.”

Sasuke shifts so they’re facing each other more fully. He looks stiff and uncomfortable, back ramrod straight, and his arm is gripping the hilt of his sword. “Alright. But don’t expect it to be the same way it was with Hinata. I won’t play house with you,” he says. “And I might leave for months at a time.”

“Just knowing you’ll come back is enough. It’s more than anything I’ve ever had before,” Naruto says, looking at — and it dawns on him, that he really sees it that way — the love of his life, Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke leans in, acquiescing. It's only then that their lips finally meet, for the first time ever in a gesture crowning their mutual volition and desire. Not by accident, not in pain, desperation, or hurried fumbles. It's their will, clear-headed and open-hearted. Their lips meet and they don't rush it. 

This moment is theirs, and theirs only. 

The sun sets behind them, warming Naruto’s back. His heart is ablaze, warming Naruto's soul. 

***

Sasuke is laying in front of Naruto, scowling impatiently. "Get on with it," he spits out. 

Naruto grins and runs his hands down Sasuke's exposed chest. "No, no, tell me how the mission went!" 

"I don't want to chatter, moron, I want you to fuck me."

Chuckling, Naruto leans down to kiss Sasuke, and Sasuke meets him halfway, abdominal muscles flexing. Naruto pours in it all the things they're still not used to saying, even after many months of dating. He knows Sasuke knows, because he keeps coming back. 

Mid-kiss, he ruts against Sasuke, skin sliding on bare skin, and Sasuke gives a desperate growl. 

"Put your dick inside of me right now before I make you," he glowers, and Naruto finally relents, pushing slowly inside. 

"You good?" Naruto asks, color flooding his cheeks. Sasuke, already prepared, only grunts appreciatively as Naruto gives a couple of experimental thrusts. 

It's always as new as their first time together had been. As intimately as Naruto knows the way his palm fits into the dip of Sasuke's hips, or the way Sasuke looks when he feels so good his eyes lose focus, every single time he relishes the feeling of Sasuke close to him as if he's never done any of it before. 

Naruto wants to go slow, wants to show Sasuke how much he  _ feels,  _ so much — like a fire burning white-hot inside of him — but as Sasuke loosens up Naruto starts fucking him faster, knowing that Sasuke wants it that way after a mission. Knowing, just like he knows so many other things, that there's time later to crawl onto Sasuke's lap, and then Naruto will bury his nose into Sasuke's hair and hold onto him for dear life as they move in languid unison, rippling together. 

For now, though, he grips Sasuke’s hips tight, pulling him closer and adjusting until Sasuke lets out a breathless moan. 

“Yes,” Sasuke says, looking at Naruto through lidded eyes. Although not particularly vocal, Sasuke isn’t as silent as Naruto had initially expected, either. It had come as a pleasant surprise.

“Harder?” Naruto asks, breath hitching, and Sasuke nods. He closes his eyes when Naruto moves forward to lean on the bed and fuck into him. Sasuke’s hand reaches out to grasp Naruto’s shoulder, blunt nails scraping against tan skin, then sliding towards the back of Naruto’s neck.

Surprisingly, this time it’s Sasuke that pulls Naruto into the kiss, their lips meeting clumsily as Naruto tries to fuck into Sasuke as fast as he can manage. They pull apart, panting open mouthed against each other, and Sasuke bites his lip as he looks into Naruto’s eyes. 

He’s not usually like this, Naruto notes. If any one of them is clingy, it’s Naruto, who wants to make prolonged eye contact and stay close together in their mutual pleasure. This time, though, Sasuke doesn’t let go, pushing their foreheads together, still meeting Naruto’s eyes as Naruto gives it his all to make Sasuke feel good. 

“Naruto,” Sasuke gasps, kissing him again. 

Naruto whimpers, overwhelmed by this version of Sasuke he so rarely gets to see. There’s too much swirling inside his chest and he feels like his lungs might burst if he doesn’t do something with it. His legs burn with effort and sweat drips down his back, but Naruto doesn’t notice any of it, focusing on his partner. In that moment, he wishes he had the Sharingan for himself: he wants to remember the way Sasuke’s whole face is flushed, pink spreading down his neck, he wants to emblazon in his memory the look in Sasuke’s eyes as he repeats Naruto’s name like a mantra, like it’s the only thing keeping him tethered. 

The grip on Naruto’s neck tightens, and Sasuke’s mouth opens in a perfect circle — more animated than he’s ever been before. Naruto knows something is different this time, and he desperately hopes it’s the result of something positive. He wants it to mean  _ forever, finally,  _ not  _ goodbye, for good.  _

Reaching out between them, Naruto grips Sasuke’s dick, letting the momentum of his thrusts carry his hand too, stroking Sasuke until he’s twitching around Naruto and throwing his head back in bliss. The sight of him makes Naruto give his last couple of frantic thrusts and then spill inside of Sasuke, mouth going to bite at Sasuke’s shoulder as they both ride their orgasms out. 

As Naruto pulls out, Sasuke gives a small, breathy sigh. Naruto pulls back, wanting to get a towel to clean both of them up, but to his surprise Sasuke grips his arm tight and jerks him closer. Wrapping his arm and his legs around Naruto’s torso, Sasuke holds on and rests his chin on Naruto’s shoulder. 

Confused, Naruto straightens them up until Sasuke’s sitting in Naruto’s lap, an odd juxtaposition to what Naruto was looking forward to earlier. Sasuke doesn’t seem inclined to let go any time soon. 

“What’s up, huh?” Naruto asks, rubbing a hand down Sasuke’s back. He knows not to ask any more questions. If Sasuke wants to talk, he’ll talk.

“I…” Sasuke says, and then quiets. He’s silent for five minutes as they stay hugged, unmoving. He clears his throat then, and Naruto feels Sasuke press his nose into Naruto’s skin, inhaling deeply. “I’m… glad you’re here for me to come back to.”

Naruto’s hold on Sasuke tightens when he hears the admission, and the unbearable pressure in his chest lessens, replaced with something that feels like an incredible, unquenchable source of life-energy in him. Pulling his head back, he waits for Sasuke to look up, and then dives in with all he has, mouth splitting into a wide grin, pressing into Sasuke’s face a smile rather than a kiss. 

“Sasuke,” Naruto says, kissing Sasuke’s lips. “Sasuke,” he says, kissing Sasuke’s cheeks, his eyelids, his forehead. “I love you. I love you so much.”

Grunting, Sasuke buries his head in Naruto’s shoulder again. Naruto doesn’t mind the lack of an answer. It will come in due time, he trusts.

“Did something happen?” he asks after a brief moment of comfortable silence. 

“No.” Sasuke pauses. “Yes.”

Naruto waits patiently, in a way reserved only for Sasuke. 

“I watched a woman’s husband die. Then I watched her grieve.” 

“I don’t understand. We’ve seen that many times before, sad as it is,” Naruto says.

Sasuke looks at Naruto, gaze unreadable. “We weren’t together before.”

All Naruto can do is let his mouth fall open as he stares at Sasuke.

Sasuke smirks, then, seeming to come back to his usual self. “Don’t go thinking we’re husbands or something,” he warns. 

“Not at all,” Naruto says after a pause, grinning and squeezing Sasuke. “I have a bad track record with marriage. We’re just… what, boyfriends?”

“No,” Sasuke deadpans, getting up and searching for something to wipe himself with. 

“Yeah, you’re right. We’re something else.”

“Like what?” 

Naruto opens his eyes wide, blinking in a faux-bashful way. “Sweethearts?” 

Sasuke makes a face. “Disgusting. Grow up.”

“Paramours?”

“You know that word?”

“Yes. Not paramours, then?”

“Stop it.”

Naruto laughs. “Soulmates.”

Sasuke turns to stare at Naruto. He looks almost angry, and Naruto would think that he is, were he anyone else, but he knows Sasuke. That’s not anger on Sasuke’s face — it’s determination.

“No. We’re simply each other’s. You chose me, and I you. We are more than a word.”

“Say anything more and you’re not leaving my bed for the next week,” Naruto warns. 

“That was my plan anyway,” Sasuke yawns and comes back to the bed. 

“Don’t you want to take a shower?” Naruto asks. “I mean…”

“Later,” Sasuke says, pulling Naruto down and snuggling into his side. 

Naruto feels Sasuke mouth something against his skin. He thinks he knows what it might be.

“We’re definitely staying here,” he laughs, full of breathless joy.  _ Here  _ is the bed, the now, their love, the future. Here is forever. Here is home.


End file.
